Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon

21 reviews

espressoreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book throws the unexpected at a person.  It takes eugenics, an aspect of the world past, and likely present, which Americans like to pretend didn’t happen in the USA, and puts it in your face from the perspective of kids.  I was surprised multiple times in this book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Torture, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual content

lpdx's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Medical content

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, and Death of parent

molsreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Death, Ableism, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Torture, Mental illness, and Child abuse

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

If you love Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” you will really enjoy this novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

There are descriptions of surgical scars and brainwashing, as well as some queer subtext.

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Body horror, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy, Addiction, and Alcoholism

tspice24's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, Confinement, Medical trauma, Child abuse, and Death

dalmavatai's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This started off pretty slow and the writing is quite descriptive, but after the first little bit it got really interesting! I adored Vi as a character, she was so smart, fierce and stubborn and I loved being in her mind. I also enjoyed the amateur sleuth vibes of both timelines and was really interested in the mysteries, though I think because of Vi I enjoyed the past timeline more. The first reveal was about 50% of the way through and I thought it was so fascinating and prompted some really intriguing conversations. There was another reveal towards the end which I did not see coming, only when we got to the scene and I was like, hmm okay I think I know what's gonna happen now - what a reveal! I also adored the sisterly bond between Vi and Iris throughout the book, plus this is such an innovative twist on the classic Frankenstein story with a lot of added social commentary which I also thought was very well done. 

I'm so happy this is my first Jennifer McMahon because I'll definitely be checking out more of her backlist! Also wanted to add that the trigger warnings I listed might be considered spoilers so you might not wanna look at those if you wanna be completely caught off guard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Racism

carissa230's review

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Violet is living with her gran and her brother. Her parents died in a car accident and it’s just the 3 of them until her gran brings a girl home from the asylum she works at. Violet finds this strange as the place only works with adults, but she agrees to report back anything that the new girl Iris says. 

Violet is precocious and wants to know more so she starts to snoop around to see what she can find about Iris. She stops taking the “shakes” her gran makes, convinced she and Iris are being drugged. When she starts digging she finds she may not know her gran at all.

In the current timeline Lizzy is investigating a missing person case. She travels the world searching for monsters for her podcast. It’s clear from the start Lizzy is connected with the children, but not how.

The book was a little slowed paced for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

breacommelafromage's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, and Ableism

ohhthehorrors's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, and Torture